Carbon Vs Aluminum Bike Frames

Most bike frames will be made of either steel titanium aluminum or carbon fiber steel and titanium are the most popular options for custom and handmade bike building.

Carbon vs aluminum bike frames.

Carbon bikes are more expensive than aluminum bikes. Just as one impact of this nature could break an aluminum frame and not a carbon frame repeated stresses in this manner would cause an aluminum frame to break sooner as well. Having said that bamboo is a legitimate bike frame material. Carbon fiber bike frames are lighter than equivalent aluminum frames.

On carbon frames you need to pay attention to tube junctions the bottom bracket area the top and bottom surfaces of the head tube and the chain stays and seat stays. The more butting the. Some manufacturers offer a lifetime warranty on. Aluminum frames possess the shortest fatigue life of any material used to manufacture bicycle frames.

For more info check out my carbon fiber vs aluminum frame guide. Carbon fiber vs aluminum bike frames. The vast majority of modern bikes however will be made from aluminum or carbon fiber. Conversely carbon possesses the longest fatigue life.

When it comes to bike frames aluminium is alloyed with another metal. With a carbon bike you ll be able to achieve this far easier than if you were riding an aluminum bike. Most manufacturers provide a lifetime warranty on carbon frames. In this section we ll compare carbon fiber and aluminum bike frames.

A carbon fibre frame will almost always be lighter than an aluminium equivalent and you ll only find carbon fibre bikes in the pro peloton in part because of the weight benefits. It s worth noting that not all carbon fibre is equal and it s possible that a low grade carbon frame could weigh more than a high end aluminum frame. While both materials can be made into responsive comfortable and lightweight frames they each have some strengths and weaknesses. Most bamboo bikes are made by starting with strong bamboo poles then binding the joints together with fiber and resin.

Unlike aluminum the production of carbon bikes is labor intensive and requires specialized molds and machinery. The typical aluminum frame possesses a life expectancy of five to 10 years. These are kind of a novelty at this point. These joints are similar to carbon fiber.

On a carbon bike the catastrophic failure point is much higher than an aluminum bike due to the flex qualities of the carbon material. In order to achieve a greater strength to weight ratio quality aluminium bike frames are butted. It s generally accepted that aluminum frames have a five year fatigue life.